

The characters are carrying a heavy object. However, now they are standing in
place (with the object) and doing nothing, so one of them asks the other
character:

> 動いてもよいか?俺もそこまで余裕がない

Why is 余裕がない used here?


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2023-11-07T15:19:40.813
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2023-11-07T16:44:56.393
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question
meaning translation
What does 余裕がない actually mean?


余裕がない simply means the speaker does not have much physical capacity left to
continue holding the heavy object. I don't know why they're standing still,
but he is suggesting that they start moving again to finish the task quickly.


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2023-11-08T02:01:20.987
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answer


余裕がない just means “can’t afford”, so its interpretation is contextual.

He may simply state that he no longer has enough power and “can’t afford” to
keep lifting the object. He may have the urge to go use the bathroom and
“can’t afford” to remain at the place. He may have no longer enough mental
leeway to spend time doing nothing and “can’t afford” to keep calm and being
nice to others. Or he may intend something different. It’s all by context.


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2023-11-08T03:10:09.917
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'余裕がな' by itself approximates to 'wish I/we/you had time/ability'. 'い' at the
end of that approximates to 'I/we/you don't have time/ability, but wish
I/we/you did'. This alone answers your question. However, I will derive the
full dialogue's meaning below:

The 'そこまで' before that makes the meaning 'I/we/you don't have time/ability to
go that far, but wish I/we/you did'. The 'も' before all that makes the meaning
'I/we/you don't have time/ability to go further, but I wish I/we/you did'. The
'俺' makes the subject of that part the speaker (I), which makes the meaning so
far 'I don't have time/ability to go further, but wish I did'. Finally, The
first sentence (the question) means 'Have I/we moved/carried [the object] far
enough?'

So, the sentence's full meaning, based on the situation, is "Have I/we moved
it far enough? I am unable to go further, but wish I was.", or "Have we moved
it far enough? I wish I could go further, but can't." if we take liberties to
make it sound like natural English.

Source: I pieced together the full meaning using rikaikun, a browser extension
that detects and highlights segments of Japanese text and gives a ton of
options for each syllable combination to help determine a text's exact
meaning, or at least the root meaning. I have a great amount of experience
using it, and have become very good at understanding its syntax and
interpreting possible meanings. I commonly use it to translate the lyrics of
Japanese music or anime openings by knowing the transcript.

My most recent project is BURN, the opening theme of Yashahime: Princess Half
Demon's second 'season' (there are 3 theme songs used throughout the series,
with the second one being this song). I do this as a hobby, and haven't worked
on it in a while, but have the first 5 lines translated accurately, and just
had real life issues preventing me from working on it further.


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answer